Unforgiven
by WofOZ
Summary: During a hunting trip conceived only by the fact that Danny's manhood had been challenged by the ever smug and grinning Commander McGarrett; the detective pulls the trigger of his rifle only to hear the pained cry of a human being. Danny freezes… Did he just shoot his partner?
1. The Shot

**I'm rockin' and rollin' people! This will be another three possibly four shot story, why? Because it's almost finished I just need to see how many words it is so I can divide it properly into chapters.**

**Have I mentioned I'm on a Steve-whump kick? For those reviewers and readers who might recognize a familiar character from my most recent 3-shot story, your reviews made me post this. I blame you, LOL! That said, it isn't necessary in the least to read "The Hunt" to follow and hopefully enjoy this short 3 possibly 4 shot.**

**Also PS, I'm not a hunter myself though I appreciate those who live off the land and hunt only to use every single bit of the animal to survive. It's not a sport, it's a way of life and shame on those who kill big game for fun.**

**Thank ye kindly!**

**Oz**

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><p>Danny couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, there was just no way what he thought just happened... well... HAPPENED.<p>

A little over two weeks ago, Steve had approached him brandishing hunting licenses for both of them. Danny had scoffed at the idea, almost busted a gut laughing at the very idea that Steve thought he was going to traipse into the jungle, be "one" with nature and shoot an animal. A dangerous animal undoubtedly large enough to do serious harm to his body should he miss.

But then, his fearless leader, the manipulative bastard, had appealed not to the idea of spending time in the jungle but rather the manly act of hunting. It was in man's DNA to hunt and provide for their family and since Danny now refused to go back out on a boat deep sea fishing, hunting a boar apparently seemed like the next best thing.

"Provide for your daughter, Danno," Steve had said. "It'll be fun," he said. "We'll catch a boar and then Luau in your honour of being a man's man," he said.

Damn him, Danny thought to himself as he tried to still his shaking hands. More so, damn himself for being sucked in by that smug grin and challenging gaze. Steve might as well have called him "chicken" and ever the proud man, Danny had folded like a deck of cards and agreed to the experience.

Which lead to the problem, the stunningly horrific problem he now faced.

A short while ago, Danny could have sworn he saw a boar, he knew he heard it, so using all the training Steve had given him combined with his own shooting skills; he'd patiently waited for the right moment then taken the shot.

Only to hear a cry of pain, seconds later... A human cry.

No. No, no, no, no, no, NO; was Danny's first and foremost thought. It couldn't possibly be…

"Steve?!" Danny called out rising from his shooting position. Receiving no answer the detective immediately charged in the direction of his shot. "STEVE!" he hollered.

Please let me be wrong, Danny silently cursed as he charged through the bush.

"STEVE! Where are you!?" Danny yelled. He could have sworn the man had said he was going to be off Danny's back-left shoulder. In fact, the last time Danny had glanced back, he saw the scope of his partner's rifle. Steve had given him a thumbs up... so what the hell had happened? Yes he'd focused on the boar and it's sounds long enough for Steve to have moved but why the hell would the idiot have-

Danny came to a jarring stop and nearly swallowed his tongue, it was confirmed by the sight before him; he'd just shot his best friend. Steve lay splayed out on ground clutching a ragged and bloody wound in his shoulder and his eyes screwed shut in pain.

"Shit," Danny cursed. He quickly got to his friend's side and ripping the first aid kit out of his pack he quickly found some gauze then moved Steve's hand to press it against the wound.

"Aaaah," Steve hissed. It seemed to bring him around as he looked up at Danny in blurry-eyed shock. "Danny?"

"I'm sorry... damn, I'm so sorry... I swear... I thought... Steve..."

"Call rescue," Steve muttered. His eye lids were fluttering, he wasn't going to stay conscious for long if the flowing blood was any indication of that. "Sat phone..."

"Right," Danny said in a bit of a panic. He kept one hand pressed to the wound and pulled out their phone. Shortly after making the call to Grover and the rest of Five-0, Steve passed out leaving Danny alone with his damning thoughts. He'd shot his best friend. He'd shot his partner. He shot another human being without any reason to do so.

Just when the helicopter flew over heralding paramedics would soon be coming to them with a stretcher to get Steve out of the jungle, the SEAL decided to come too again.

"D'ny," the man slurred badly. "S'okay... w'sn't y'fault..."

"Just hang on Steve, helps almost here okay?" he urged. The pale man nodded but then his eyes once again started to close... this was bad.

"Medics!" a voice called out.

"Here! Over here!" Danny yelled. He only allowed himself a little bit of relief when Steve was quickly swarmed by medical help and loaded onto a stretcher. It was only when two more uniforms appeared to help lift Steve did Danny realize the paramedics hadn't come alone. It didn't matter however; he went to at least help lift his friend when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Hang on Danny," said a familiar voice. "They've got him." Tearing his eyes away from his partner's still and pale form as it disappeared beyond the tree line, Danny turned to the voice. Josey Lafayette was one of the Game Wardens for Hawaii. He'd originally come from Montana but after a pretty unique case that had the man brought to the islands quite literally; it seemed Josey never wanted to leave. Odd considering he'd almost died during that case. Still ever since the event, he'd remained fast friends with Five-0 as many others did who owed their lives to the teams efforts.

"Josey... what are you doing here?" Danny asked still shaking a bit. An odd and sympathetic look crossed the man's face.

"They uh… usually call us in for stuff like this," Josey said gently.

"Stuff like this?" Danny asked confused. The Warden pointedly looked at the rifle that was still slung over the detective's shoulder. It took Danny a split second of horror to realize what "stuff like this" as Josey had very kindly put it, was.

"Sorry, Danny, I gotta take the rifle," he said reaching out. Having known Josey for a while now, Danny understood what was happening and his face flushed with shame. With trembling hands he handed off his rifle not able to look his friend in the eye. HPD would be out to process the scene once the Wardens service came to the conclusion that the "hunting accident" was more than that. And there was no doubt that this was more than that. It was just a matter of deeming it a true accident or if Danny had meant to take the shot at his partner.

He hadn't, of course, but that wasn't up to him to decide.

"A second chopper is coming in to take us out," Josey explained. Then after a pause he asked, "Danny what happened?" as gently as possible. Danny sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

"It was a boar," Danny whooshed out. "And Steve was right behind me, I KNOW he was right behind me. I didn't... I didn't mean to..." Shoot him; Danny thought the last part as he just couldn't bring himself to say the words again.

Just then another Warden approached from the opposite direction of the helicopter, he glanced at Josey and shook his head.

"There are signs of one but no boar," he said.

"Okay," Josey nodded. He put a hand on Danny's shoulder, whether to contain him or comfort him, the detective was to in shock to know. Above them the second helicopter hovered over before heading to the closest clearing. "I'm sure it was an accident Danny," Josey urged. "It'll be okay, Steve'll be fine." Danny didn't reply. He couldn't. He just allowed himself to be guided back through the jungle to the waiting helicopter.

Thankfully, Josey had been kind enough to take Danny to the hospital to meet the other members of Five-0 and wait for information on Steve's condition. It didn't go unnoticed however that the Warden was staying as close as possible. Danny didn't blame the man; he was doing his job as he should. Allowing Danny the chance to find out how Steve was doing before the investigation started was more than a kindness on the Wardens part.

When he entered the waiting room, Chin and Lou stood up.

"We haven't heard anything yet," Chin said. "They took him to surgery almost as soon as they got him here. All they told us was he lost a lot of blood." Danny closed his eyes and wavered a bit, if Steve died...

"Easy," Josey said. "Come on sit down Danny, we don't need you passing out from shock." Finally seated with the others around him Danny opened his eyes as his gut filled with remorse, anger, guilt and shame.

"I shot him," he finally said out loud. Lou and Chin went wide-eyed. "I shot him and if he dies, I murdered a decorated Navy SEAL and state officer, my partner and my best friend."

"He's not going to die," Lou stated firmly and quickly. "And I don't believe for a second you're to blame for this."

"Lou..." Danny tried.

"No Danny, he's right," Chin jumped in. "Steve's a "warhorse", he wont go down without a fight and as for it being your fault, brah something had to have gone wrong out there."

"I thought he was behind me and he wasn't," Danny shot back. "I lost track of my partner and still took the shot... that's still a pretty big hunting no-no isn't it Josey?" The Warden winced but nodded.

"Technically," he replied though clearly bothered he had to admit the truth. Danny turned back to the other men trying to convey how sorry he was.

"I'm sorry guys, I blew it," he sighed.

"The scene still needs to be looked at," Josey tried. "Maybe Steve moved at the last second and-"

"So it's HIS fault he got shot?" Danny asked incredulously.

"No but it's possible he moved because he saw something and wasn't thinking about potential consequences," Josey explained. "I've seen it before, hunters so focused on the kill and jacked up on adrenaline that they don't even realize they've walked into the line of fire."

"Yeah that still sounds like you're blaming Steve," Danny growled. "I shot him, I had control of the weapon, it's MY fault okay!?"

"Danny you gotta calm down," Lou urged. "Let's just make sure Steve's okay before placing any blame."

"He's right, Kono's going out to the sight with HPD to check things out," Chin added. "She'll call when she's got something so for now there's nothing we can do but wait."

"Yeah," Danny huffed sinking lower into his chair and unable to meet any of his friend's eyes. "Wait to see if I'm charged with attempted murder or plain old murder." No one said anything after that; they knew there was nothing they could do to make the Detective stop from blaming himself.

Three long hours later, a man in surgical scrubs came right up to the team causing everyone to stand.

"Gentlemen, I'm Doctor Koa, I operated on Commander McGarrett."

"Is he going to be okay?" Danny asked.

"He is a very, VERY lucky man," the doctor replied. "His wounds were clear through and through's. They were considerable in size and one did knick an artery, hence the blood loss but they missed anything else vital. Thanks to the quick responses of you detective and the flight medics the Commander's got a strong fighting chance. The only concern at the moment is the blood loss. I won't lie, his heart stopped once on the table because of it but we got him back quickly. We're transfusing him with blood and monitoring him closely in the ICU until he wakes up."

"But he will, right? Wake up, I mean," Danny asked.

"If your team's reputation is anything to go by, Detective, I'd say a very strong definitely," Dr Koa nodded. "The next 24 - 48 hours are crucial but... he's strong and extremely healthy, that goes in his favor. Once we get him settled I'll allow you to visit one at a time. Any questions?" Danny couldn't think of any as he was struck dumb by the fact that Steve was going to be okay.

"Not right now, thanks Doctor," Chin said putting a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Hang on," Josey spoke up. "Doc you said his wounds? As in plural?" The doctor nodded.

"Yes, it's what made the area such a mess," Dr. Koa explained. "The bullets entered in a tight grouping in his shoulder, it would have been extremely painful... am I missing something Warden?"

"Yeah," Josey nodded. "Danny you said you only fired once." Blinking and forcing his mind to focus, he thought back to that horrific moment. He'd cocked the rifle and pulled the trigger... Once, only a single bullet.

"I'm sure of it," he nodded. A deeply pensive look came over Josey's face; he looked away for a second then back to the doctor again.

"Doc any chance you could venture a guess on the angle of the shots?" he asked.

"Well I'm not a forensic scientist but if I had to guess I'd say high and from behind," the doctor shrugged. "That's why the front of the wound was bigger and messier; it was the exit point of two high powered shots." For a horrifying second, Danny thought he hadn't just shot his friend, he'd shot him in the back. "Now if there's anything else the nurses know where to find me and one will come get you when the Commander is ready for visitors." The doctor gone, the group turned toward the Warden.

"What are you thinking Josey?" Chin asked.

"I'm thinking Danny didn't shoot the Commander," Josey's voice echoed through his brain and he looked at the man in confusion.

"How do you figure?" he asked.

"High and in the back? High powered shots? Danny, the rifle you were using wouldn't have caused that much damage even if you did shoot twice. That and if Steve had circled around to cover the boar from another angle, he still would have been facing you," Josey explained. Danny didn't dare hope... but secretly started to pray what he was hearing was true.

"You're saying you think someone else was out there?" Chin asked.

"I'd bet money on it," Josey nodded. Then smiled at Danny, "Plus... I don't think the detective is that good a shot," he joked.

"I'll call Kono, let her know they may be searching for a shooter," Lou said pulling out his cell phone. Danny wanted to believe it but there was still something holding him back.

"I only heard one shot and it was mine," he said with certainty.

"By what the doctor said, it sounds like the bullet wounds were in an expert level grouping," Chin said clearly getting on board with Josey's idea. "Taken in rapid succession... I've hunted in that area Danny, there's a strong echo off the cliffs. It's entirely possible whoever shot Steve used your shot to cover their own. You didn't hear the second shot because you probably thought it was just your echo." Danny just blinked, it was so plausible, so believable... then he remembered what Steve had said to him in his brief moments of consciousness.

"He said it wasn't my fault," Danny breathed out.

"Steve?" Chin asked.

"Yeah, just before he passed out again... that's all he got out, that it wasn't my fault," Danny said. Finally Danny let it sink in, at least enough that he was willing to entertain the idea that he was innocent of his friends shooting; he'd wait until the evidence was in to be sure. But just the idea and having people around him believe in him more than he did allowed the vice grip on his heart to release just a little bit. "He could have seen something and... that's why he might have moved from behind me," Danny breathed.

"He must have, Steve's a good hunter but he's a better sniper, he wouldn't get caught up in adrenaline and put himself at risk for no reason," Chin nodded. Just then Lou came back shaking his head.

"Kono already knew we're looking for a different shooter," he said.

"What? What did she find?" Danny asked.

"HPD were searching a mountain ridge line close to and in the sight line of where you were hunting," Lou replied. "They found an abandoned sniper rifle hidden under some foliage."

"Sniper rifle?!" Danny exclaimed.

"Someone was purposefully out there to hit Steve and make it look like a hunting accident," Josey said shaking his head.

"That's the thing," Lou said. "The clearest line of sight wasn't to where Steve got hit... it was to where Danny was laying."

"Me?" Danny practically choked. He had to sit down, he dropped back into the chair he'd been sitting in and tried to make sense of it all. A few hours ago he'd been convinced he'd shot his partner, now not only was the real shooter on the loose but apparently he was gunning for the detective, not Steve.

"Steve must have seen him or the scope and went to closer to check it out," Josey replied. The gut wrenching guilt returned full force as he realized what that meant.

"He took the bullets meant for me," Danny said almost in disbelief. "That… stupid self sacrificing moron Rambo GI Joe action hero smug bastard took the shots that should have hit me!"

"Getting upset isn't going to solve anything Danny," Lou replied. "Particularly getting pissed at Steve."

"Until we get this sorted Steve would want someone with Danny at all times," Chin said. "We'll also need to pull any threats made toward him and have HPD analyze them for any potential suspects."

"What can I do to help?" Josey asked.

"You can get the Wardens to check to see if there's been any strange activity in the area," Chin replied. "Talk to any residences that live close by, see if they've seen anything."

"Will do," Josey nodded. Then he looked at Danny who was still to stunned to really think properly. "We'll get this guy Danny and Steve'll be fine," he encouraged. The detective forced himself from daze and nodded. He stood up and tried to collect himself.

"I should make a list... anyone I think might want me or Steve dead," he said. "I should get back to the office and-"

"Your list can wait Danny," Lou said with empathy. "Something tells me you're not going to be any good to anyone until you see Steve's okay with your own eyes."

"Agreed," Chin nodded. "Lou, Kono and I can handle this for now, we'll get an HPD officer to stand guard outside Steve's ICU for both your sakes."

"Fine," Danny relented. "But keep me in the loop... I want whoever did this and I want to look them in the eye when we catch them."

"You will, Danny," Chin said giving his shoulder a squeeze. Just then a nurse appeared with a smile.

"The Commander's ready for visitors," she said. With a final gaze of certainty from the other men around him Danny turned to follow the nurse.

The next morning Danny still sat diligently as his partner's bed side. The man looked like hell, he was pale as a ghost and most of his upper body was wrapped in gauze and had been immobilized. An oxygen mask over Steve's mouth and nose clouded every now and then giving the good sign that the man was breathing normally on his own.

When visiting hours ended the night before, Danny had spun a line that he was there on protection detail and the HPD officer outside was as well for backup sake. The doctor and nurses looked like they didn't buy it for a second but they'd taken pity on him and let him stay. He'd spoken to Chin a short while ago who said they didn't get anything from the sniper rifle but they'd found some evidence of a person who'd been camped out in the woods. Josey as well was headed out to interview a local land owner who'd apparently been noticing some odd things disappearing from his home and land. Things that one could use to survive in the elements and that had conveniently been disappearing for the last two weeks or so. Right when Steve had introduced Danny to their new hunting licenses.

Confident the team was handling things without him, Danny remained at his partner's side after Chin promised they'd be in later to check in. Steve's moan drew Danny from the pad and pen in his hands; he'd decided to start writing down names of people he thought could potentially be out to get him or even Steve. Yes Danny had been in the main sight line but that didn't mean the shooter wasn't out to get both of them.

"Eh babe, you with me? Steve?" Danny urged standing next to the man's hospital bed. The Navy SEAL moaned again but turned his head slightly toward the sound of Danny's voice. "Come on McGarrett that's enough nap time, open your eyes you lazy bum," the detective ordered. Ever the soldier, Steve's eyes took a moment but then blearily blinked opened and found Danny's. "Hey," the detective smiled.

"Nngh.. h'pn'd?" Steve slurred.

"We were hunting," Danny said as he pressed the call button for a nurse. "You got shot." Steve's drugged gaze wavered a bit but a second later his eyes sharpened with amazing clarity.

"Sniper," he said trying to pull his oxygen mask off his face with his free hand. "There was a sniper."

"There was don't worry, we're working on it," Danny said. "Will you stop that? Easy! You need the mask as long as the doctor says." Steve struggled a bit more but the fight soon left him and he settled for looking at Danny with a hard look.

"He was aiming-"

"At me, I know," Danny replied. "And you decided to be a hero and take the hit for me didn't you?" Steve's eyes glazed a bit more as it appeared the adrenal kick had left him just as soon as it came.

"Wsn't goina let'im shoot you, Danno," he muttered. Then added, "M'tired."

"Get some rest then," Danny said with a shrug. Steve snorted softly.

"Y'just woke me up," he replied sounding slightly annoyed and confused.

"I'm a complicated guy," Danny smiled. His partner snorted a quiet laugh as the pull of drugs and fatigue brought his eyes closed again just as the nurse stepped through the door. "He woke up," Danny explained proudly. The nurse nodded and agreed to go get the doctor allowing the detective to take up his seat once more and frown at his ever growing list of suspects.

He was going to need more paper.

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><p><strong>Got little to say here cause I'm working on the edit of the next chapter! See you soon and thanks for reading, reviewing and favoriting my stories. I appreciate it and am truely honoured.<strong>

**Onward! *cracks whip on current writing binge***

**Oz**


	2. The Eyes

**On with the binge writing! Thanks for all the reviews and for reading this and my other stories!**

**Hope you like!**

**Oz**

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><p>Danny had only stepped out for a moment and apparently that was all that was needed for his partner to get himself into trouble. Or more like self induced punishment. It was the day after Steve had been brought to the hospital and after a night of steadily improving vitals, the man was moved out of the ICU late that morning.<p>

Once he was sure Steve was settled in the normal hospital room, Danny finally allowed himself to take care of his own needs. He still felt insurmountable guilt for his partner's situation but having the man start to pink up again alleviated it to a tolerable level.

The detective had headed down to the cafeteria to get some food and much needed coffee in his stomach. As he ate he'd also called to check in with Chin to see how the case was going and he got a disappointing answer of "very slowly". All the serials had been shaved off the dumped sniper rifle and other than Josey's sort-of witness to things missing from his home and property, there were no signs of their perp.

The key issue being the were only so many spare HPD officers and Wardens that were available to search an area of jungle that spanned for miles in every direction. They were looking for one man in a jungle… or a needle in a hack stack. What they needed was some sort of clue of who they were looking for, maybe then they could figure out his patterns, his reasons, hell Danny would settle for his friggin' shoe size at this point.

So after agreeing he'd stop by the office later once he was sure Steve and his HPD detail were safe and secure, Danny had headed back up to Steve's room.

What he found had his gut churning with concern; Steve was awake and was almost as pale as he'd been the night before. Dr. Koa stood next to him monitoring his vitals with a frown on his face.

"What happened? What's going on?" Danny asked with worry.

"Your partner's an idiot," came the very last thing the detective expected to hear as a reply.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Just… g, give me a minute," Steve said through clenched teeth. It was then Danny took in the situation in it's entirety and realized what was going on. Steve was clearly in pain and the doctor was holding a syringe filled and ready but apparently he'd been told to wait.

"What youre a tough guy now?" Danny asked in exasperation.

"He's refusing any pain medication and he's well passed due for another dose," Dr. Koa explained.

"I just… I need to remember," Steve growled. "I u, used my binoculars… s, saw his eyes and square jaw… was ugh… he was w, wearing cammo paint put… I know, I know those green eyes."

"Steve come on, you've been seriously hurt," Danny sighed. "You can remember later, what you need is do focus on getting better."

"Amen to that," Dr. Koa sighed. "Commander your blood pressure is already through the roof, listen to your partner."

"No," Steve stated angrily. His pained eyes finally opened and he found Danny's. "I need to think c, clearly… you know…aaah… I can't think wh, when I'm high. You know what t, the drugs d, do to me, Danny."

"Do I know?! Absolutely I know," Danny snorted in amusement. "Last time you were in the hospital I had you singing "I'm a little tea pot" and convinced you were six… Got the whole thing recorded and let me tell ya babe, blackmail fodder for LIFE." While Steve gave a short chuckle that came out almost as much a pained gasp as it did amusement, the detective could see his partner was suffering a great deal.

"D, Danny j, just… help me," Steve all but begged. Instantly Danny lost the humour he had a second ago and got to his partner's side taking his good hand.

"Alright you got this buddy, just breathe through it and focus on the memory," he coached. Steve's good hand clamped down on his with surprising strength and he gave a short nod. "Now is this sniper someone you recognize, someone you've met before?"

"Re, recognize… yes, met… n, no d, don't think… aagh… so," Steve said closing his eyes as the sweat really started beading up on his forehead.

"Gentlemen," the doctor said with a warning tone.

"Just a sec more, believe me doc I don't want this going on any longer either but we keep fighting him and he'll find another probably much less safer way to go off his meds," Danny replied quickly before turning back to Steve who'd started to curl in on himself a bit. "Was it a newspaper article? A case file? A picture?"

"P, Picture," Steve gasped he'd started to tremble and answers or no, Danny would soon order the doctor to give the man the pain meds.

"Do you know where?" Danny asked. The Navy SEAL made a gurgled moan sound and when he didn't answer right away Danny tried one last time. "Come on Steve, where did you see the picture? You can do this, you're one of the toughest guys I've ever met, I know you can figure this out." Once again all that came out was a gurgled moan and finally Danny called it. "Give him the drugs," he nodded to the doctor. Steve let out a grunt of disapproval at the idea but still couldn't find his words.

The doctor almost looked like he was giving himself the pain relieving medication as he slipped it into Steve's IV port. Soon enough Steve's whole body started to relax and melt back into his bed.

"That was a pretty heavy dose so you'll probably sleep for several hours Commander," Dr Koa explained though Danny doubted his partner heard him. Just when he thought the man had drifted off, Steve snorted and did his best to open his eyes.

"D'ny… yur office," he slurred then just like that he was out like a light. Danny however was wide eyed with confusion and shock.

"Did he just say my office?" he asked.

"That's what it sounded like," Dr. Koa said without looking up from checking his patient. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to make sure my patient doesn't go into shock because of that dumb stunt."

"Sorry doc, my team and I aren't very good at being patients, especially him," Danny replied. He did feel a little bad that the doctor was actually kept from doing his medical duty but at the same time, Steve's comment could have possibly just blown the case open.

"No arguments here," Dr. Koa sighed. Seemingly convinced Steve's vitals were coming back to where they should be the doctor finally looked up at Danny. "You better find the guy who did this before the Commander decides to walk out of here and do it himself."

"That's the plan," Danny nodded. "I wont wake sleeping beauty and I have to stop in at the office so I'll make sure the double HPD detail outside the door is set. They'll be checking everyone's ID and I've left instructions that only you and a few nurses on staff are allowed in and out of this room." The doctor nodded but also looked a little concerned.

"Do you think someone might try and hurt him here in the hospital?" he asked.

"Until we find this guy, all bets are off doc," Danny replied seriously. "Anything smells fishy you call me immediately, get it?"

"I'll put you on speed dial," the doctor answered.

After securing the detail outside Steve's room Danny headed out of the hospital only to have Josey meet him at the front doors.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked climbing into the man's truck.

"The idea of having two HPD outside the hospital room was so that one would follow you out," Josey replied. Danny was startled.

"How did you-?"

"Chin knew you'd probably leave them both with Steve so he sent me here to get you," Josey smiled. "There's not much else I can do on my end other than offer any help that I can with this case and if that means toting you around in my truck, so be it." Danny laughed but was in fact grateful not to have to focus on getting from point A to point B at the moment.

"Well then drive on, Jeeves, drive on."

The first thing Danny did when he reached headquarters was head straight into his office. While Josey stopped to check in with the others, Danny barely waved hello. Once he was through the door to his own space he frowned with aggravation. A year ago, Grace had been visiting the office, she'd looked around his space and said; "Danno how come everyone else has a whole bunch of pictures but you?"

That had somehow lead to Danny pulling out all his favourite photos and putting them on every available space the room. There were pictures from colleagues, family and friends starting all the way back from his first year as a cop to a few pictures of him and the Five-0 team.

Slowly scanning them all Danny saw a number of men he'd known or knew now who all had green eyes and square jaws.

"Hey Danny, how's Steve?" Kono said from his office door.

"He'll be okay, stubborn as ever," Danny said a bit distractedly. Kono clearly picked up on this and walked up next to him.

"What're we doing?" she asked. It was true to their teams form, if someone looked like they needed help or were working hard on something, help would always arrive without question.

"Where's Waldo?" Danny muttered looking at his photos.

"You're looking for a kids book?" Kono asked confused. Finally Danny shook his head and looked at the woman while waving a hand over his photos.

"Steve said he got eyes on the shooter," he explained. "All he got was the guy had green eyes and a square jaw."

"That's more than we had before," Kono shrugged. "The Wardens confirmed that since the shooting their witness hasn't been missing anything more from his property. Looks like our guy might have left the woods."

"Because we did," Danny sighed. "Or I did." He looked back to the photos. "Steve also said he'd recognized the guy."

"What? That's great! Who is it?" Kono asked excitedly.

"Don't be to happy," Danny warned. "All Steve knew was that he'd seen the face before, not met the guy and that he thinks its from a picture in my office." Kono's face fell as she too looked around the room at all the photos.

"Oh," she replied. However she stepped forward and grabbed two picture frames from the filing cabinet in the corner. "We're still waiting on forensics to give a final report of the scene so I've got time. Green eyes, square jaw?" Danny nodded and the woman turned back and started analyzing her photos. Turning to the opposite side of the room, Danny did the same.

An hour later all the pictures had been sorted, the pace had picked up when Josey joined in the search and now Five-0 were gathered around the smart table where four photos lay before them. They'd left the photos that had no one fitting the description and then gone back over the ones that did which Danny knew the green eyed person was dead. After that, it took a few phone-calls but several more pictures were taken out of the mix because alibi's checked out.

One picture was his academy training class, which had three green eyed guys in the picture another was he and three other detectives from Jersey celebrating his first year as a full fledged detective. The second last one was at his first Luau with his first Hawaiian partner Meka. In it were six other people officers and family of officers sitting around the fire pit. Two of the men in the picture had green eyes.

The last picture was one Danny had often debated taking out of his office and tucking it away but had never brought himself to doing it. In the picture was he, his brother Matt and one of Matt's college buddies. The picture had been taken at one of Danny's last birthday's in Jersey. He hadn't known Matt's friend well but he had green eyes and a square jaw so it stayed in the possible suspect pile.

"We can take away the academy photo," Chin said rejoining the team. "Just got off the phone with Jersey PD, two of the officers have been on regular duty the past few months and the third was injured in a car accident a year ago and is a paraplegic."

"So unless he's got an off-roading wheelchair, he ain't our guy," Danny said taking the picture away. "Okay, I'll take these to Steve and see if anyone looks familiar." He started to turn when Chin's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Brah hang on," he said. "When was the last time you went home, changed and slept?"

"He's right," Lou nodded. "I was wondering what was starting to smell funky in here."

"We need to find out who shot Steve," Danny said unapologetically. "I'll get him to check the photos and then I'll come back here and change. I've got spare clothes in my-"

"Can anyone else hear that?" Lou interrupted. Everyone stopped in listened in confusion, Danny couldn't hear anything.

"Hear what?" he asked.

"It's the sound of McGarrett's forehead twisting into a knot at the idea his partner isn't taking care of himself," Lou explained. The rest of the team plus Josey chuckled while Danny just frowned.

"Come on Danny," Chin urged. "You said Steve's probably going to be asleep for a few hours. You'd just be sitting there anyway. We'll call you as soon as we get anything else from forensics."

"But…"

"Come on Danny, I'll take you home," Josey said pushing the detective toward the door.

Danny would be loathe to admit but the shower had done wonders for the ever growing fatigue in his body. He took longer than he usually did under the warm spray finally dragging himself from the warmth to get dressed and rejoin Josey in his kitchen.

As he finished buttoning his shirt walking down the hallway he paused at one of his home's doorways and looked inside the room.

All Steve had said was "your office" and now as Danny stood in the doorway of his "home" office, he wondered which one the SEAL had meant. Everyone knew Steve had probably spent just as much time in this office as he did the one at headquarters.

With a sigh, Danny made a detour away from his kitchen and quickly made the rounds pulling any photo that had a man with green eyes in it. He wasn't about to go through them all right then and there as the warm shower had awakened the fact that he was incredibly hungry for a solid meal.

Six more photos in hand, Danny headed toward the kitchen and laughed when he entered. Josey sat already devouring his way through a sturdy looking sandwich while a bowl of soup, a salad and a glass of water were waiting their turn around him.

"Make yourself at home," Danny chuckled. The Warden smiled with a full mouth but then nosed his head in the direction of the counter where an equally as impressive looking spread lay waiting for the detective.

They ate quietly and quickly, out of hunger or haste, it didn't matter what mattered was that they soon sat back in their chairs, Danny finally feeling like a human being again.

"Chin was right, I needed this," he sighed.

"We forget that we're human when you've got guilt eating you alive," Josey smiled sympathetically. Danny let out a breath and shook his head.

"When I saw him on the ground the first time, thought that I'd done that too him…"

"But you didn't," Josey replied. "So lets stop dwelling on the things you can't control and put the effort into the things you can. Where did those pictures come from?" Grateful for the change in gears, Danny looked at pictures he'd just pulled from his home office.

"Home office," he answered. "Steve never said WHICH of my office's head seen the picture in."

"See? Aren't you glad we got you home? You may have just saved us a trip!" Josey beamed. Danny rolled his eyes and shook his head with a laugh as the man handed him a mug of coffee. "We'll finish up here and then head to the hospital, then I gotta check in with Warden McDoGood and the rest of the service." Danny smiled fondly as he thought of another Warden who they'd met the same time as Josey. Don McCabe was a hero and no one would ever forget it or let him forget it much to his chagrin.

"Heard he and the wife were having a baby," Danny said happy to settle into some idle more positive conversation.

"Mmm hmm," Josey nodded into his coffee. "Guys on the force have already started calling him "pappy"."

"M'sure he loves that kind of attention," Danny snorted. Josey's eyes lit up with mischief as he nodded.

"I may have let the rumour spread that it's his official nick name from now on," he laughed. "Besides in a few months it'll be completely t-"

It almost happened in slow motion, like something out of a movie where time stands almost still just so you can witness every detail. The coffee mug in Josey's hand shattered in an amazing display of exploding coffee as the bullet that shattered it slammed into the wall just over Danny's shoulder.

"DOWN!" the detective yelled. No sooner had the two men flipped the kitchen table to protect themselves until they could get to the sturdier main island did the room started exploding with gun fire.

"Where's it coming from!?" Josey hollered as he covered his head instinctively. It was disorienting as Danny knew he had three windows that looked into his kitchen from the outside. Anyone of them could be the access point.

Instead he pulled out his phone and hit speed dial.

"Grover," the man answered.

"Lou! We're at my house and taking fire! Get some back up out here NOW!" Danny barked over the sound of shattering glass and his home being shredded by hot metal.

"On the way Danny, hang on, we're coming!" Lou exclaimed. Confident help was coming, Danny put away his cell and focused on their shooter.

"That's an automatic rifle," he told the Warden.

"Yeah! That much I got already!" Josey shot back.

"He's going to run out soon and when he does we gotta grab the photos and get to the Camaro," Danny explained.

"You want to go OUTSIDE!?" Josey asked incredulously.

"It's high powered, there's no way he's just standing in the street," Danny explained. "And it's coming from behind the house. If we can get mobile and out the front door, odds are he wont be able to follow."

"And what if you're wrong!?" Josey exclaimed. Danny didn't get a chance to ease the man's apprehension over the situation because at that moment the bullets stopped raining down around them and he was moving. He grabbed Josey by the arm and hauled him forward.

"MOVE!" he barked. The hurried through the debris grabbing the photos that had been splayed all over the floor and not caring of the glass, plaster, ceramic and other shattered bits that cut into their hands.

Possessions acquired, they sprinted through the house to the front door. The second they were out however bullets started kicking up dirt all around them.

"So much for behind the house!" Josey hollered as they zigzagged toward the car only yards away. In the back of his mind Danny couldn't help but wonder why a man who'd taken the incredible shot he had in the jungle was suddenly unable to hit a moving target but at the moment, he was just happy to make it to the car.

The second they were inside, Danny started the engine and roared away from the house. Thankfully four blocks away he pulled to the side of the road and was greeted only by the hum of his engine and the blood pounding in his ears.

"Are we dead?" Josey squeaked. Danny let out a nervous laugh and turned to his pale faced passenger who's fingernails were digging into the dashboard.

"I don't think so," the detective replied. "Think the blood pumping in my ears means we're still here."

"That's not the only place the blood is pumping," Josey said as he turned toward Danny. Only then did the detective look down to his left arm realizing how much it hurt and the fact that he'd been shot. It wasn't deep and probably a ricochet but still.

"Wonderful," Danny sighed.

A few hours later, stitched up and pulling his shirt back on, Danny looked over to Josey and Chin. After the Warden had done a quick patch job to the detective's arm in the car, they called the rest of the Five-0 team and reconnected. Obviously Danny was checked by paramedics and then quickly taken to hospital with Chin and Josey never leaving his side.

"How you feeling Danny?" Chin asked.

"Like someone's trying to kill me," Danny replied. "Do we still have the photos?"

"Few of them got a little messed up but all the faces are clearly visible," Josey replied.

"CSU is casing the house and HPD is checking the surrounding area," Chin explained. "Problem is it's starting to get dark and as for inside the house…"

"There's probably a couple thousand bullets to sort through," Danny finished for him. Then he shook his head as one thought had been racing through his mind since this whole mess began. "Thank god Grace isn't on the islands, if she had been there today…"

"What did I tell you about focusing on the things you can't control?" Josey said with a smile. Danny gave a tired laugh and a nod before getting to his feet.

"Alright, lets get the photo's to Steve, see if he recognizes anyone."

"Danny, Josey can do that, why don't you rest a bit?" Chin suggested. "The doctor's given us permission to use the room for a bit longer."

"We need to find who's responsible Chin," Danny replied. "And I don't want to just sit around and wait for this guy to take another shot. What happens if next time he hits you or Kono? Or Grover or Josey? Hell he almost DID hit Josey! No, I'm not taking any more breaks or any more "time-outs" until this case is solved. Now you can go with me on this or you can handcuff me to the bed until I gnaw my arm off." Josey laughed while Chin just rolled his eyes.

"Come on," he said nodding toward the door. They headed out toward Steve's hospital room. "I should warn you though, after Steve's last stunt Doctor Koa's been keeping him pretty heavily medicated, he might not be of any good right now."

"Let me be the judge of that," Danny replied.

They reached Steve's room, Danny in the lead and after saying "hello" to the HPD detail outside it, they slipped inside. Amazingly Steve was actually awake at the moment he was idly poking at the bandage on his shoulder.

"Hey Steve, how you feeling?" Danny asked. The Navy SEAL blinked then blinked his eyes wider again before finding the source of the voice. Once he did, Steve's face split into a wide toothy grin.

"Daniel… Danny…Daaaaannnnooooooooo!" Steve sung out the last part. Glancing back to Josey and Chin who shrugged an "I told you so" shrug, Danny looked back at his partner and walked up to the side of his bed. "Hey Danny!" Steve said enthusiastically.

"Hey babe, they got you pretty messed up huh?" Danny asked. The SEAL nodded with a chuckle but then cleared his throat and shook his head and closed his eyes.

"I don't like this," he said the smile disappearing.

"I know Steve," Danny agreed. "Hey do you think you'd be up to looking at some photos?" he asked.

"Pictures?" Steve slurred. His grin returned ten-fold and he nodded happily. "I like pictures, I like pictures of whales and those… uh… those unicorn whales… you know, with the horn like this?" Steve used a finger and brought his hand to his head sticking it out in the air.

"Narwhals," Josey supplied from behind.

"That's it!" Steve cried triumphantly. "Unicorn whales! S'cool… like pie... Oh… Hey Danny! Guys, when did you get here?" Josey started laughing even harder while Chin just smirked. Danny sighed and dropped down into the chair next to his friends hospital bed knowing the man was much to high at the moment to focus on anything.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Danny offered.

"Sleep, yeah… sleep good… focus in th'mornin'," Steve nodded following his friends idea without question. Steve's smile faded again and he settled back a bit on the bed furrowing his brow. "M'hate drugs," he slurred. Danny huffed out his own laugh and gave his friend a pat on the good shoulder as the man drifted off to sleep again. It was going to be a long night.

"I do to babe, I do to."

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><p><strong>Had just bit of fun with the last part of the chapter but not to worry, its down to serious buisness up next!<strong>

**Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!**

**Oz**


	3. The Wounded

**So I've decided... after editing this will be a four chapter story. You will ABSOLUTELY see why at the end of this part.**

**Thank you all for the reviews and I knew y'all would like a drugged up Steve. I always figured him to be a happy drunk, ha ha. **

**And again, I'm so humbled by the attention all my writing gets on this site; Considering the writers I'm amungst I'm honoured! And the readers, you're what make me push on!**

**Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The night was indeed a long night. It wasn't because Steve had any trouble or spiked a fever or anything, in fact the man was steadily improving now that he'd allowed his body to take the medication it needed.<p>

No the night was long because Danny's chair was hard and every time he made the mistake of closing his eyes he'd have a horrible nightmare of Steve lying dead in the jungle mud. At one point he'd only just managed to cut himself off from waking with a shout as the nightmare morphed into not just Steve lying dead in the mud but the rest of Five-0 as well. The nurses took pity on him after finding him yet again awake and looking like a zombie so they brought a cot into the room in hopes that a more comfortable resting place would help him sleep better.

It didn't do a whole lot to quell his overactive consciousness but surprisingly by the next morning Danny found himself woken up not by a nightmare but rather sprinkles of water to the face.

"...The hell?" he muttered. He tried to ignore it, maybe get a little bit more sleep but the water drops splashed his face again and it finally dawned on him it shouldn't be raining indoors. Opening his eyes in tired confusion he blinked then blinked again only to realize he wasn't the only one awake. Steve, the back of his bed elevated, was grinning at him, the fingers of his good hand dipping into his water glass ready for another assault.

"Mornin' Danno," Steve said. Danny grunted and rolled off the cot stretching and popping out his tired back before plopping back down into the chair next to Steve's bed.

"How you feeling?" the detective asked.

"Still a little loopy but the doc came in a moment ago and agreed to dial down the drugs a bit," Steve explained. Danny raised an eyebrow, surprised he hadn't woken when the doctor had come in.

"More tired than I thought," Danny mumbled.

"You do look like crap," Steve nodded with a giggle. However as soon as the giggle was out he cursed himself and the drugs once again.

"Well I've been waiting for your drug addled brain to rejoin the world so I can show you some pictures," Danny grumped back at the man. Steve's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What pictures?" he asked. Danny sighed; he didn't blame the man for not being able to remember.

"The other day when you tried to go cold turkey with your meds you said you saw the shooter," he explained. The Navy SEAL nodded his confusion giving way to a deep concentration.

"I did... green eyes," he said.

"Yep, you also mentioned you'd seen the face in a picture in my office," Danny explained. Steve just nodded; accepting what Danny was telling him was the absolute truth but clearly not remembering. "None of this is ringing bells is it?" the detective asked. Steve ran his good hand down his face then carefully placed it over his immobilized one.

"Honestly for some reason all I can remember is the word Narwhal," he replied. Danny snorted back a laugh to which Steve narrowed his eyes. "Did you get me to do the tea pot thing again?" he snarled.

"Not this time," Danny chuckled to himself. "Didn't I promise never to do that again?"

"Yeah while grinning like a cat," Steve snorted. He took a breath however and shook his head. "Okay, so you brought pictures to look at? Maybe it'll jog my memory." Danny nodded and reached for the folder that lay on the bedside table. As he did however the stitched up wound on his arm made itself known with throb of pain. So far he'd hidden it from Steve, wearing a long sleeve shirt but there was no hiding the pain and he cursed himself for not taking his own medication. "Hey... what was that? What's wrong?" the SEAL asked instantly on alert.

"S'nothing," Danny replied this time reaching for the folder of pictures with his other arm.

"It's not nothing I can see you're hurt," Steve frowned. "Cough it up or I call Chin and get the story from him." Rolling his eyes but knowing there was no avoiding it, Danny rolled up his sleeve to reveal the bright white gauze.

"It was just a ricochet, didn't go to deep and only needed three stitches," Danny explained.

"Ricochet... as in bullets were flying at you," Steve dead-panned. "Our shooter again?"

"Yep," Danny nodded. "He's out of the woods and tore up my home pretty good but Josey and I got out of there quick."

"Is Josey okay?" Steve asked. Danny gave another nod before replacing his sleeve and opening up the file of pictures placing it on Steve's lap. The SEAL picked up one photo that had come from Danny's home; it was a little ripped with stains of coffee and blood. Steve raised his eyebrows and looked at Danny.

"Looks worse than it is," the detective waved him off. "Now will you look at the photos? I'd like to have this guy caught before we end up going for round three." Steve poked through the pictures, most he dismissed right away, a few he lingered on but when he came to the second last picture he dropped the rest.

"This is it, this is the guy," he said with certainty. Danny took the photo from his partner; it was one of the ones from his home office. There were three people in the picture, himself, his old partner Grace and two other detective's Jack Kinney and Christian Heart. While Danny hadn't been particularly close with the two other detectives he did know them enough to stay in touch as much as he was able. The picture was an official photo taken at a conference they'd all attended together. Christian was the only green-eyed man in the photo.

"It can't be him," Danny said equally as certain.

"Danny I swear, I mean yeah he might be a little older now but that's the guy," Steve replied.

"No Steve you don't get it, it can't be him, he's dead," Danny replied. "Shortly after this picture was taken Christian... that guy, gave up his badge to go back to the Marine's where he'd started his career. A year ago he was killed in action." Steve blinked as if not willing to accept that and shrugged.

"I don't know what to tell you, Danny, that's the guy, I swear it," he replied. Danny held his partner's gaze for a moment before shrugging and pulling out his phone.

"Kono Kalakaua," the Hawaiian answered.

"Hey Kono, its Danny." He took the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker so Steve could be a part of the conversation too.

"Hey brah, how's Steve doing?" Kono asked.

"Steve's doing fine, Kono, a lot better actually," Steve replied.

"Good to hear boss," Kono said. "I was just about to call you Danny; they found another abandoned gun on the roof of a building near your house. Again no serials but the bullets in your house are a match to the weapon."

"This guy's got to have money if he's using weapons like that and just leaving them behind," Steve said. "Or he stole them from someone who's going to want them back."

"We're looking into it, Chin has an "arms dealer" angle he's working on," Kono replied. "So what did you call me for?"

"I need you to run a name for me, Christian Heart," Danny explained.

"Give me two seconds..." Kono said. In the back ground Danny could hear her fingers pitter-pattering away on the Smart table in the office. A moment later she was back; "Okay Marine Gunnery Sergeant Christian Heart, former Jersey Detective... says here he was killed in a road side bomb attack in Iraq. Is he important?"

"Apparently not," Steve sighed heavily. "His face looked like the one I got a look at in the jungle but I must have been mistaken."

"Maybe not," Kono said. The sound of her fingers dancing away on a keyboard could still be heard.

"Whadya got babe?" Danny asked curiously.

"Gunnery Sergeant Heart has an identical twin," Kono explained. Both Steve and Danny gave each other looks of surprised hope.

"Come again?" Steve asked.

"He's got an identical twin... looks like an evil twin actually," Kono replied. "As a kid David Heart tested in the top 5% on all of his test scores but I'm also looking at a criminal record starting as far back as the age of fourteen. He's literally an evil genius."

"What're the charges?" Danny questioned.

"Everything and anything," Kono replied. "But one thing that does keep repeating itself is drug possession."

"So the guys a drug addict who's pissed away his life and does stupid things when he's high," Steve summed up. Danny nodded. "Kono what's this guys last known address?"

"Up until last year he was a guest of the State in New York, charges were possession to traffic and multiple weapons possession," Kono explained. "But from there it looks like he dropped off the map."

"How much do you want to bet he's just popped up on ours?" Steve said giving Danny a pointed look.

"That would be a suckers bet," he replied. "Kono what kind of weapons are we talking about?"

"Police report says thirteen knives, five hand guns and twelve rifles were found at his last known address," the Hawaiian replied.

"Jesus, that's enough to start an army," Danny huffed out.

"New York police did look into a potential arms dealing but couldn't find any evidence," Kono went on. "Looks like they thought the guy was just a gun nut."

"Alright, get his picture out to all the agencies on the Island," Danny ordered. "And let everyone know if they do find the guy to proceed with extreme caution."

"On it," Kono replied. "I can also... what? Hang on guys, Chin's got something. I'll put you on speaker."

"Steve? Danny?" Chin's voice came over the line.

"Howzit Chin?" Steve replied.

"I just spoke to the Hawaiian Gun Club, two months ago a shipment of theirs from the main land never made it," Chin explained. "When they contacted the supplier they were assured it had shipped but had been placed on the wrong cargo ship so it would be delayed."

"And?" Danny asked.

"And it should have come in a day ago," Chin replied. "As soon as they realized the shipment was missing they contacted HPD who called me a few minutes ago."

"Do we think the missing shipment is connected to this?" Steve asked.

"It's too much of a coincidence," Chin replied. "Serials may be missing but the two weapons that have been left were exact matches to weapons on the Gun Clubs order manifest." Danny sat back and took a breath looking at the picture of a potential killer's dead brother.

"I know I'm going to regret asking but... what else is missing?" he questioned.

"Eight more high powered rifles, two of them are long range sniper rifles," Chin replied. "The shipment was also supposed to contain just enough ammo for each rifle to be fully loaded."

"Why keep the guns if he runs out of ammo," Danny said shaking his head. "That's why he's shooting and dumping."

"Chin, you and Kono pull surveillance from the docks of when that shipment was originally supposed to come in," Steve ordered. He was paling again and Danny knew they'd have to end their phone conversation soon. "And get Grover to work with HPD on finding this Heart guy."

"Grover's on his way to pick you up Danny, should be there any minute," Chin replied. "We'll get everything covered... it's good to hear you lucid Steve."

"Thanks," Steve said with a bit of a wince; pain or embarrassment they would never know.

"I'll be there soon," Danny added. "Ciao." After hanging up the phone, Danny poured Steve a fresh glass of water and handed it to the man who took it gratefully.

"Well..." Steve said with a wince as he tried to get more comfortable. "At least we're getting somewhere."

"Yeah, now we just have to figure out why the brother of a guy I barely knew wants me dead," Danny sighed. Subconsciously he put a hand over the bandage on his arm.

"We will Danny," Steve said in his absolutely certain tone. Danny just harrumphed before getting to his feet. "Where are you going?"

"All that water flicking in my face made me have to pee," Danny said as Steve started grinning again. "M'going to hit the head before Grover gets here... you going to be okay?" Steve nodded pushing a button on the side of his bed that released some more pain medication into his IV.

"I'll be good," he replied. "But don't be a hero Danny, this guy's taken two shots at you already and looks like he's armed for more."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Danny huffed. "Unlike you Steven, when bullets are flying at me I tend to run in the opposite direction." Steve's smile got bigger as his eyes hazed a bit more with the fresh drugs in his system; a giggle slipped out once more.

"Damn it!" the SEAL snarled catching himself in the act. Danny barked out a laugh before heading to the washroom and closing the door. Alone with his thoughts, he took a second to just lean against the bathroom wall; a storied criminal the twin brother of a decorated Marine for some reason out to kill a State police officer in Hawaii. Hollywood couldn't have written a better epic.

The question was... if this guy was such a good shot, why did he keep on missing?

Shaking his head from the dark musings, Danny went about his business not wanting to waste another second before tracking his shooter down.

A half hour later found the detective was sitting in the passenger seat of Lou's truck, slightly slouched and with his eyes closed. He was tired but at the same time, terrified to fall asleep.

"Yeah you don't look like you've slept much," Lou said about ten minutes in to their drive. Danny snorted before opening his eyes and looking at the man.

"Thanks, because I haven't had enough people tell me I look like crap today already," he replied.

"I'm guessing nightmares, some pretty bad ones too," Lou went on. "Couldn't have been easy thinking you'd shot your partner." Danny gave a heavy sigh as he shook his head and looked out the window not daring to make eyes with his other teammate.

"Any sane human being would be shaken up," Danny replied a bit bitterly. "But it's fine, nothing I can't handle."

"Mmm hmm," Lou huffed knowingly. Danny just gave him a look and was about to reply when the former SWAT commander frowned at his rear-view mirror. Instinctively, Danny did the same but his tired eyes didn't see anything.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

"Either I'm hallucinating or that SUV has been trailing us since we left the hospital," Lou replied. Danny turned to look again and this time, with some focus, he did see a black SUV... no license plates. He turned back and made sure his seatbelt was secure.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"Call it in and hold on," Lou replied curtly speeding up a little. Danny scrambled to pull his phone off his belt before stabbing at the speed dial.

"Chin-Ho Kelly," the Hawaiian answered almost instantly.

"Chin, Lou and I are being followed we're-"

There's something about being in a car wreck that few who haven't been in one realize. At first their isn't pain, there isn't anything really because you're just to damn shocked to realize instead of driving normally, you're plowing into a lamp pole, or a ditch... or through someone's front yard.

What sense you do have is all auditory; you hear the shattering of glass, the twisting of metal, parts of a car not meant to break snapping with an unforgiving impact of whatever hit you. The air bags explode violently and you're blinded for a fraction of a second as the harsh chemicals that made it deploy smack you in the face at several miles an hour.

When Danny finally regained anything other than what he could hear he realized Lou's truck was now a twisted pile of metal. The hood was pinned between a lamp post and a the front end of a tractor trailer. Something wet was flowing into the detective's eyes but he barely noticed over the shock of his situation.

"L, Lou?" the detective croaked. For a terrifying second he was met with silence but then he heard his teammate moan and turned to look at him. Lou looked equally as out of it, trying to come back to his senses. "Lou, y'alright?" Danny hissed as a pain in his side made itself known.

"We... we gotta get... get out," Lou slurred.

"W, what?" Danny asked. The bigger man tried to tug at his seatbelt as awareness fully kicked in.

"Out, Danny we gotta get out! The SUV! It was decoy!" Lou exclaimed. Adrenaline surged through Danny and he went to reach for his seat belt only to have a hand suddenly reach in his window and shove a cloth over his mouth. "DANNY! No! Let him go!" Lou's cry of anger was the last thing the detective heard as he felt his body being dragged out the car window and his world faded to darkness.

Waking up was dark and cold, which didn't make sense for Hawaii; Didn't make sense until Danny finally managed to open his eyes and come to the conclusion that he was tied to a chair in some sort of walk in refrigerator. And he was alone.

He could only hope that Lou had managed to escape or their shooter, the alternative was absolutely unthinkable. Whoever the man was, Danny knew he had to think about getting himself free and out of the mess he was currently in.

He was interrupted in his struggling to get free when the door behind him squeaked and groaned open. Clearly where ever he was it hadn't seen people or maintenance in a while.

"Who's there!?" Danny barked. "I'm Detective Danny Williams w-"

"With Five-0, yes I'm well aware of who you are Detective," said an ominously calm voice.

"Good, so you know my team is probably already on their way to find me and-" The blow to the back of the head was sharp and so unexpected Danny actually yelped as it jarred every injury he already had from the car wreck... particularly his ribs.

"I'm sorry," the voice said coming around to face Danny. "That was… uncalled for and rude of me." The detective swallowed as he was finally able to look into the crazed eyes of the man responsible for all the terror of the last few days. David Heart was almost the spitting image of his brother Christian. The only difference was David's body was thinner and pale no doubt ravaged by years of drug use.

"Your brother was a good man, David; you think he'd approve of what you're doing here?" Danny dared ask. For a second, David's eyes darkened, they were so dark Danny actually wondered if that was it, he was about to die. However something in his gut told him David hadn't just brought him here to kill him quickly.

"My brother was the only good thing in my life," David said his voice cold and void of emotion. Danny's heart started pounding as the man produced a rather sizable knife from his waist band. "You know what some of his last words to me were?" The detective licked his lips nervously and shook his head. "He said, "Dave... when I get back you and me are going to go on a trip and get you right," David explained. He twirled the knife idly in his hands.

"He cared about you," Danny tried hoping sympathy would gain him favor but not taking his eyes off that blade.

"As screwed up as I was, yeah, he never stopped trying to help me," David sighed. Then his eyes darkened once again and he leaned into the detective. "You know what the problem is Detective?"

"What would that be?" David spun the knife and then with as much violent force as he could muster, drove it into Danny's leg ripping a scream of pain from the detective. "I never got that trip!" the crazed man yelled over Danny's wailing.

"You son of a bitch!" Danny cried.

"That's right, scream Detective," David snarled. "Scream!" He twisted the knife and finally the pain was so overwhelming it sucked the air out of Danny's lungs and he just couldn't scream anymore. That's when David yanked the knife out again leaving Danny to try and fight the spots of threatening unconsciousness and breathe through his pain.

"You're insane," Danny wheezed. "What the hell did I ever do to you!? Why are you doing this? Huh? Why!?" David, bloody knife and all backed to the far wall of the walk in fridge and leaned against it with a sigh; as if torturing a human being was such a chore.

"I'm doing this because I have too," he replied. "Because Christian would have wanted me too." Danny actually laughed a bit hysteric with pain.

"I didn't know your brother that well but the few times we hung out or worked together I'm pretty sure he never mentioned anything about wanting to torture another human being," he said.

"Yeah well... maybe you should have paid more attention to him," David shot back. "You were, after all, such a great influence on his life." Shaking his head, Danny looked to the new and bloody wound on his leg then back up to his captor.

"David... I don't know what you think I've done but... I have no idea what you're talking about," he said. "Look just let me go and you can walk away."

"There's no walking away," David snarled. He shook his head and rubbed his temples before looking at Danny again; this time when he came forward those green eyes developed a look Danny was all to familiar with. It was the look of a disturbed man but it was also the look of a chronic drug user. David was high and unlike Steve, he wasn't a giggler. "There's no walking away for either of us," the man said. He sliced a shallow gash across Danny's chest and then another on his shoulder, the detective used all his will power not to cry out. "My brother said "when he gets back" but he never came back Danny. You took him from me..." Another slice this time to Danny's thigh. "... and every time I look in the mirror I see him asking me why I let him go. Why he made the mistake of leaving me." The next gouge was to Danny's cheek and this time the detective couldn't take anymore.

"Please," he begged. "I've got a daughter... please don't do this."

"It's too late for either of us Danny," David said coldly and calmly. He gave the detective three more slashes that cut a bit deeper this time. Another to the shoulder, and two to the chest. "You never should have convinced my twin to go back to the service."

"W, what?" Danny croaked in confusion and disbelief. David grabbed a chunk of the detective's hair and jerked Danny's head back while holding the knife to his throat. Applying just enough pressure to break the skin over Danny's thrumming jugular vein, he widened his crazed eyes.

"He's dead because of you and now you'll die because for him," David snarled. He backed off a bit giving Danny's head a rough shove as he did so, "But not before I make everyone you care about suffer by watching you beg for your life. Let's make a video call shall we?" Danny's eyes widened in horror as David grabbed a back pack from somewhere behind him and started pulling out video equipment.

"Don't do this," was all Danny could think to say. "Please, please don't do this."

"Two of your team are in the hospital," David said. "The big guy you were with, he's still unconscious thanks to a little cocktail I stuck him with. No one knows where you are Danny but they'll know soon HOW you are. Your daughter will just have to survive without you." The situation was rapidly getting out of any control Danny had and not since he'd been tied up with his partner Grace on 9/11 did he truly fear for not just his life but the scaring effect his death might have on his loved ones.

"You shot Steve on purpose, you let him see you so you could take him down just to mess with me," Danny tried to delay. He was panicked and unable to stop himself. "You really are insane... I mean certifiably six sheets to the wind mental whacko." David stopped what he was doing only to delivery a powerful right cross to Danny's face before grabbing the detective's hair again and yanking his head back.

"You don't have to tell me what I am! I am WELL aware!" he snarled. "All you need to do is make peace with your maker because this is going to be your last day on Earth, Detective. You're done, Daniel… you're done."

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><p><strong>You're welcome Danny whump fans... you're welcome. *cackles wickedly* Favs are awesome, reviews are loved, PM's make me explode with happiness.<strong>

**Next up, the last chapter! Hope everyone likes this and comments or at least gets a kick out of Steve's giggle fit at the start... I know I did! Ha!**

**Oz**


	4. The Survivor

**Whoa... so you all liked that last chapter a lot! Ha ha. I think of all my stories, this one is one of my best so far and I'm so happy everyone has liked it so much!**

**Okay, not going to lie, I shed a tear or two at certain parts of this final chapter but that said, there were moments I laughed my butt off just as much. Fair warning, I dug into an emotion trench for this one. **

**To the fans of Danny whump... hike up your socks and hang on; I went all out for this chapter... *grins***

**Thanks again so much and enjoy!**

**Oz**

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><p>When the video link started to connect, Danny lowered his battered gaze to the floor in embarrassment. He didn't want his friends and teammates seeing him in such a state and was mad at himself for allowing himself to get into this position. Granted a small voice told him none of this was his fault and there was really nothing he could do but still. He could only hope Kono wasn't alone at headquarters; he'd hate to have her watch something so terrible alone.<p>

"This is Commander McGarrett." The detective's head shot up in shock and confusion, there on the computer screen that had been placed facing him, was Steve in all his glory and Josey right behind him. The Navy SEAL was pale as a ghost and was obviously sitting down but there he was, not in the hospital where he should be.

"Are you kidding me!?" Danny blurted out. "Do you even know what colour socks you're wearing!?" His partner gave a rueful smile and nodded.

"You know I love my slippahs Danno, plus I decided I was done letting everyone else have all the fun... how you doing partner?"

"Never mind me you should be in the hospital!" Danny snarled.

"Well now that we've got that out of the way..." David chuckled as he rounded the camera so he was standing next to Danny. At some point the man had picked up a very sharp looking stiletto blade.

"David Heart," Steve growled. "You've got a lot to answer for already, don't make it worse than it is and let the detective go."

"Make it worse? Like this?" David plunged the thing blade into Danny's shoulder purposefully pushing it in as slow as possible. Danny refused to cry out but he did allow himself a grunt of agony as fireworks of pain exploded through out his body.

"No! Stop! Stop!" Steve demanded. Danny felt nauseous as the blade was pulled out equally as torturously slow then once again driven into his abdomen.

"Y'son of a bitch," the detective hissed. "I'm going to kill you... I swear o, on my mother I'm going to kill you." Danny's reaction to pain had always been the threat of physical violence or sarcasm depending on how severe it was. And right now, it was pretty bad so he'd just forgone the sarcasm at the moment instead turning to images of tearing David's head from his shoulders.

"All you need to do is admit you're responsible for my brother and I'll make this quick," David said. "Keep lying and this..." the man gave Danny a deep slice to the chest, jarring the injured ribs yet again. "... will be very painful."

"And I told you I have no idea what you're talking about!" Danny shot back. "I barely knew your brother!"

"He's telling you the truth Heart," Steve tried. "Let's just talk about this rationally and-"

"Rational left the building a long time ago Commander," David spat at the camera. "But fine, I'm being unfair… maybe if I help jog your memory it'll come back to you detective."

"Ugh, why do I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy "jogging my memory" as much as you are?" Danny asked.

"Stop talking Danny," Steve pleaded. "Just concentrate on surviving, we'll get you out of there I promise."

"You promise, you promise, I promise too; I promise this will end in suffering," David said going behind the detective. "Now, do you remember being the hospital after 9-11?" Danny desperately searched his memory banks but it came up quite a fuzzy mess.

"I was concussed and in shock cause I just lost my partner," he replied thinking back on one of the worst days of his life. "So no... I don't remember." Judging by Steve's widening eyes of concern and anger, the detective knew whatever was coming next was definitely going to suck.

"You don't remember your visitors?" David asked as if he genuinely cared for Danny's answer.

"It's a blur and there were a lot of- AAAAAAAH!" This time Danny couldn't stop his scream, several volts of electricity shot through his neck, ceasing every muscle and blinding him to anything else. He was distantly aware of Steve spitting out hateful words and demands for the man to stop but he couldn't get passed the ringing in his ears.

"You only had one visitor that mattered!" David yelled. The biting pain of electricity stopped and Danny dropped his suddenly to heavy head to his chest trying to remember how to breathe.

"You're killing him!" Steve was still barking. "You can't get any answers if he's dead you need to give him time to recoup! Danny! Danny talk to me buddy, come on man say something!" All Danny managed to get out was an unintelligible grunt at first but then he sucked in a breath and raised his head giving Steve as big a smile as he could muster.

"M'okay," he slurred. "S'not that bad." Steve snorted an incredulous snort and shook his head.

"My brother visited you in the hospital and the next time I saw him all he could say was how he really felt like he'd better serve me and the country by going back to the Corps," David hissed. "America needed good soldiers to put the boots to the throat of our enemies... do you know who told him that?" Danny felt tremors of pain and fatigue shake his body; he had a feeling he knew the answer but didn't want to say anything for fear of the punishment it might incur.

However this seemed to anger David even more as he suddenly jammed the taser into Danny's gut. "Do. You. Know. Who. Told. Him. That!?" David snarled as the electricity cause the detective to spasm in his confines, the ropes digging into his wrists and ankles.

"He can't answer with his muscles ceasing! Stop it!" Steve begged. The electricity stopped and this time Danny let out a gasp and wheeze.

"I don't know," he croaked. "I swear... I d, don't know." David grabbed Danny's hair again yanking his head back into an awkward angle his cold homicidal eyes staring into Danny's beaten and broken ones.

"You did, Danny," the crazed man replied. His eyes grey the darkest they'd been since Danny woke up to find himself in the clutches of a mad man. David shook Danny by the hair violently before giving him a hard smack to the face and releasing him. "You didn't even have the balls to go to war yourself but you had no problem sending my brother," he snarled.

Danny was in shock; from his injuries first and foremost but also from the truth finally being revealed.

"He... he made his own decisions," the detective couldn't help but speak. "And whatever I said... I was drugged up and concussed."

"Your brother probably would have gone whether he'd spoken to Danny or not," Steve tried as well. "What you've done, all in his name, is unforgivable. He gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect this country, to protect you and you've made a mockery of all his hard work. You've become the person brave men like your brother were fighting to stop."

"NO!" David barked. He put the taser down once again pulling out his large knife again and pointing it at Danny. "It's your fault! You took him from me, my twin!"

"It's not my fault, David," Danny said as confidently as he battered body would allow. "And nothing you do to me will change that, so kill me now or don't, my conscience like your brothers, will be clear." Where the confidence had come from Danny could only guess it had to do with being able to look Steve in the eye. There was something about his partner that always exuded calm; as though as long as you had breath in your body there was no sense getting up set but rather surviving.

David however was thrown into a psychotic rage at the detective's words; he let out an animalistic cry of anger before launching himself at the detective. After several more cuts and several blows to his upper body, Danny was finally left a shaking bloody mess; David backed off to the far wall and flicked a switch. Amazingly, the abandoned fridge still had life yet as the vents started blasting cold air that instantly went straight to Danny's bones.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet," David said once again calm as if they were just having a normal conversation. "I'll give you the chance I never got and let you say goodbye first before I end your guilt ridden suffering." Danny barked out a hysteric laugh.

"Right... MY guilt," he replied. David worked his jaw but then walked around the detective and a moment later the door creaked and groaned open and closed. Danny held his breath for a second before looking back at the camera.

"He gone?" Danny asked.

"Yeah Danny, he's gone... Jesus partner you're a mess," Steve breathed. "We're working on finding you, I promise we've got every eye and ear out there and-"

"Steve," Danny said cutting his partner off. He could feel the strength leaving his body, his head growing too heavy as the blood from various wounds started to congeal on the rapidly cooling floor.

"What d'ya need, Danno?" Steve asked.

"I need you to pr, promise me you'll take care of Grace," Danny said fighting his tears.

"That's your job buddy, I'm not going to say it again," Steve said clearly emotions getting to him as well.

"Steve... please," Danny choked out. "Let me get this out or I'm goina haunt you forever." Steve let out a sad laugh but nodded.

"Just this once because I'm never going to let you live it down when you get rescued," he replied. Danny smiled through bloody lips.

"You're a menace to society and I never had grey hairs until I met you," he chuckled. "You drive my car more than me, y, you only listen when my p, plan matches yours and your taste in music is t, terrible."

"I aim to please," Steve smiled back. Danny nodded but let the smile slip from his lips; they both knew how dire the situation was. They both knew how much trouble the detective was actually in.

"That said… T, there's no one else in this world I would trust with my girls well being," Danny continued. "I n, need to know you'll always be there for h, her and always remind her pineapple is not a pizza topping. Y'be the man I know you are and make sure she's got a good life."

"Danny..." Steve said a slight break in his voice.

"P, promise me Steve and whatever happens next, it doesn't even matter," Danny practically begged.

"I swear Danny, I swear Grace will be safe," Steve blurted out. Danny smiled another broken smile before his head finally gave up the fight and his chin dropped to his chest. "Damn it Danny hang on! Just a little longer!" Steve barked. Danny wanted to reply wanted to say more but he didn't have the energy. That's when the door behind him groaned open and after some rattling of chains, David reappeared. Danny only needed to just catch the glint in the man's blank expression to know time was up. "Heart... Don't chain the door… David, come on don't do this," Steve begged. "We can talk about this! Danny's got kid man! You don't have to do this!"

"No more talking," David replied void of all emotion. He pulled out one of the stolen guns and pointed it at Danny. "We both die today... you just might take a little longer. Now my blood is on you too." There was no warning, no chance and no hope as the trigger was pulled. The bang of the gun echoed loudly in the small confines of the room.

So loud Danny had slammed his eyes shut waiting for the inevitable... but it never came. He expected a hot burning or maybe nothing at all just darkness but after several seconds of nothing; he forced his tired eyes open. What he saw instantly had him quaking in shock. David Heart had taken his own life and now lay motionless on the floor, his head a bloody mess from the self inflicted bullet wound.

"Oh j, Jesus," Danny breathed. "Oh... god!"

"Danny! Danny what happened?!" Steve barked. Danny looked up at the screen, an adrenaline surge giving him some strength. He realized where David had stood last was just out of view of the camera. "Danny talk to me!"

"He... he killed himself," the detective shook like a scared child. "He just... Steve... Jesus... he just... he's dead. Oh my god Steve he's dead!"

"Okay, Danny its okay, don't look at him," Steve urged. "Just look at me okay? Partner just look at me." By now, shock, wounds and the frigid temperature were taking their toll, Danny's whole body wouldn't stop shaking, his vision started to grey. "Danny come on Danno... Look at me!" Steve's voice grew farther and farther away as the detective started to shut down.

"We got something!" Chin's holler in the background barely registered in Danny's ears, nor did Steve's repeated calls that they were on their way and coming to get him.

Eventually all he heard was white noise and his shivering stopped, his body to tired to keep going. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, how long he suffered and wished that his body would just give up already but it just wouldn't let go. Minutes, hours or days, he'd never know but his body refused to quit as images of Grace, his teammates and loved ones kept racing through at a dizzying pace in his mind.

Then he heard a bang followed by another and another, for a second he thought David Heart had come back from the dead for more torture. At this point however Danny couldn't bring himself to care... he couldn't get himself to even open his frosted eyelashes to see what the racket was all about. He was finally at a point where an everlasting peace and freedom from his suffering seemed a blink away when he felt something soft, hot and warm on his neck.

"I've got a pulse! I've got a PULSE! Get the medics in here NOW!" The voice was familiar, Danny knew he should know who it belonged to but his brain refused to cooperate. "Hang on Danny; we've got you, just hang on!"

I'll try, Danny thought unable to form words, God help me I'll try.

If the dreams were any indication, Danny knew in the back of his mind he wasn't dead but seriously hurt. They ranged from nightmares of that horrific day his partner was killed beside him to pleasant dreams of Grace playing on the beach behind Steve's place. Through it all Danny saw his life, the goods and bads and everything in-between. Curiously, it was just as he started to feel like the dreams were fading when one came through clear as a bell. He was in a hospital bed, Jack Kinney and Christian Heart standing next to his bedside looking worn and sympathetic to Danny's state but smiling undoubtedly for his benefit.

"I'm telling you, now's a good a time as any Chris," Jack said to his partner. "You've been thinking about it for a while now and sure I'll miss ya but there couldn't be a better time."

"S'right Heart," Danny slurred trying to focus passed his concussion. The two men around him laughed.

"You're so high right now you thought I was Santa a few minutes ago," Christian smiled. "Yet you still want to weigh in? Only you Williams, only you." Danny frowned and forced his mind to clear a little more.

"America needs good soldiers to put the boots to the throat of our enemies," he snarled but then found himself fighting tears. "To many "Grace's" were lost today." Both men put a hand on either of his shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze.

"Maybe it's finally time I get back to the Corps and show my brother the strength I can pass on to him," Christian replied. "You're a good man Detective Williams, I'm so sorry you lost your partner." Danny let the tears fall but brushed them away and simply gave a nod.

That was the last dream before everything in his mind faded and Danny became more aware of his body and its aches and pains. It took a while but finally, the beeping of a heart monitor roused him and he decided to force his eyes open. The hospital ceiling was there to great him and he finally knew by a miraculous hand of god, he'd actually survived his ordeal.

A dark blur came in to view and it took several blinks for Danny to be able to establish that blur was in fact, his partner. Steve was pale but he was grinning down at him like he'd won the lottery.

"Hey," the SEAL said softly.

"Hey p'rtner," Danny said through his oxygen mask. "Lou?"

"He is his fine grumpy self and soon you will be too," Steve explained. Danny nodded but then reached out and clutched Steve's hand, childish maybe, much needed life-line? Definitely. The SEALs grin got impossibly bigger as the detective drifted off back to a comfortable sleep knowing someone was watching his back.

Twelve days later, Danny sat up in his hospital bed lamenting the fact that he was once again faced with a grey mush that the hospital called food.

"Can't figure if this is some trick to poison me to get me to stay longer or if they actually think they can produce this slop and call it "healthy"," Danny grumbled. He stopped poking at the mush and looked over at Steve who was munching his way through a chicken Caesar salad. "You…gimme some of that rabbit food," the detective ordered. Steve laughed after swallowing his bite and adjusting the sling on his arm. The man had checked himself out against medical advice when he found out about the car wreck and the abduction. In fact, apparently he'd only shown up moments before David Heart had video called the office. Once Danny had been rescued BOTH of them had been taken to hospital again.

Steve however had been released a few days ago, well enough to be on his own. Not that it mattered, the man spent more time at the hospital with Danny than he did when he was actually admitted.

"Danny Williams asking for salad? You sure you're not still running a temp?" Steve chuckled. Danny's original injuries were bad but survivable; it had been the infection and hypothermia that had developed into pneumonia that had left him fighting for his life for almost five days before he'd regained consciousness and awareness. Since then all of his teammates had been using his hospital room as a revolving door so that there wasn't a moment that went by that he was alone.

Danny scratched his upper lip just underneath the more than annoying nasal cannula that was shoved up his nose and frowned.

"One more day of eating mushy peas and I'm going to reconsider the whole surviving thing," he joked. Steve's face darkened however and he put his fork down.

"That's not funny," he replied dead serious. "I watched you practically die... you did die, your heart stopped when Kono and HPD pulled you out of that industrial fridge. We were lucky Heart turned on the power to that abandoned factory so Chin could find the power spike. If that building hadn't been leased out under the name Christian Heart, we never would have found you and I'm not okay with that Danny. I won't be for a long time." The detective could tell how much his partner was suffering because of what happened, hell, he was too and he had more than enough reason.

Still, the fact that he survived, the fact that his team had yet again come to his aid against all odds made him feel something he rarely had the chance to feel in his line of work. He felt pure, genuine, honest to goodness hope that there was enough good left in the world to make life worth it.

"I'd imagine it's a feeling akin to running through the jungle thinking I just shot my partner," Danny replied. Steve looked at him in surprise.

"But you know that's not your fault," he said.

"Yeah, and deep down in that thick skull YOU know what happened to me wasn't yours, it's not anyone's," Danny came back instantly. "David Heart had a lot of issues, he'd lost the one person who was still giving him a chance and it destroyed him. You think we feel guilty? Imagine if we were twins." Steve didn't look entirely convinced as if all the worlds' problems should always and forever be on his shoulders but he sat back and sighed with a nod.

"I know, man I do know it just… sucks," he replied. The detective chuckled as much as his still healing wounds would allow.

"That it does... now quit the pity party and give me some of your salad before this mush goes nuclear," Danny said reaching out for the other man's food. Steve laughed but used his fork to push some of the salad onto Danny's tray. The detective happily started munching away.

He was almost finished when there was a knock on the door and he and Steve were once again joined by the rest of the team plus Josey.

"Gangs all here," Danny said around a mouth of lettuce. Then he noticed they'd all brought food as well and snarled. "You people are enjoying my dietary suffering aren't you?" That brought a hearty chuckle throughout the room while everyone took up a spot and started to dig in.

"We spoke to Heart's prison psychiatrist," Lou said once the room had quieted. Danny put down his fork more than ever curious to see what had been said.

"And?" he asked.

"Apparently his brother's leaving for a third tour pushed him back to the drugs, he was clean for a while before that," Lou explained. "When he found out his brother had been killed he suddenly became an absolutely model prisoner."

"Hiding in plain sight so he could get out," Steve huffed. Chin nodded and continued on with the explanation.

"He used the prison computers to hack the shipping manifest to the Gun Club," he explained. "The remaining weapons he used to pay of the local gang to help abduct Danny. The prison psychiatrist believes he must have suffered a complete mental collapse but because of his high level of social and educational intelligence he was able to work it to his advantage. The drugs just exacerbated the break down."

"Plans like his weren't simple and off the cuff," Kono said sounding actually impressed. "He really was THAT smart."

"What a waste," Danny said before he even realized it. For several moments everyone in the room was silent and lost in their own dark thoughts on the matter. The silence lasted a while almost to a point that it was awkward and Danny knew someone had to say something soon to break the dark cloud that had settled in the room. A cloud that clearly read, "you can't save everyone."

That point was when Josey sat forward spearing a piece of shrimp out of his take out container and waving it around in a "Danny" worthy hand gesture.

"So I hear there's a video of a certain Commander singing "I'm a little tea pot," any of you care to share?" he grinned. Steve's face instantly screwed up into his signature aneurysm face and he glared at Danny.

"You told me you deleted it!" he snarled.

"I told you I'd never make you do it again," Danny corrected. "Never said anything about deleting it... Kono, can you grab my phone, babe?"

"With pleasure, brah, with pleasure," Kono laughed hopping to her feet and heading over to Danny's personal affects while Josey all too eagerly joined her. The group laughed while Danny reached out for Steve's good shoulder drawing the man's attention.

"Steve?"

"What do you want traitor?" the SEAL huffed clearly kidding about his insult.

"Thank you… I can't tell you how much I mean that." Steve's face eased and eventually turned into a smile, he knew Danny was thanking him for a lot more than just putting up with being made fun of.

"Any time Danno… any time," he nodded. The moment was lost when Josey howled out a guffaw of laughter shaking as he held Danny's phone; Steve's horribly of key voice ringing out from its tiny speakers.

"Oh my god this is HYSTERICAL! Who knew McGarrett was a falsetto?!"

"Daniel?" Steve asked his partner with disturbing calm. Danny raised a mischievous eyebrow at the man, his smirk equally as big.

"Yes, Steven?"

"I hate you."

"Love you to babe, love you too."

**FOUR MONTHS LATER**

Danny took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him. It had taken a while, it had taken a lot of building up the confidence to do so but eventually, he and Five-0 had tracked down Heather Heart, David and Christian's surviving mother. She'd only had the twins before her husband died in the line of duty himself for the Chicago fire department. That's where Danny found himself now, in the "Windy City" about to face a woman who had every right to feel any number of emotions toward him.

The door opened and an elderly woman with a haunted look in her eyes gave Danny one look and clearly knew who he was. Her eyes widened with concern and fear but also acceptance while she let out a short gasp.

"Mrs. Heart?" Danny said calmly. "My name is Detective Danny Williams."

"I… I know who you are," Mrs. Heart said with all the pain in the world. Next to Danny, Steve, who'd followed his partner on this journey without a second's hesitation, stepped forward;

"Mrs. Heart, if you have the time, my partner and I would like to come in and... talk," the SEAL said. Danny found his voice again and nodded, he stepped forward and took the frail woman's hand. Mrs. Heart looked shocked at the tender gesture but didn't pull away.

"I'd like to learn more about your sons," Danny said controlling his emotion. "**Both **of them." The mourning matriach before them sucked in a deep breath and wiped away a tear before nodding vigorously and opening her home to her unexpected yet welcomed guests.

"Please," she said tentatively touching Danny's arm. "Come in."

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><p><strong>PHEW! That's it, that's all! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, enjoyed or simply appreciated what I did with the characters.<strong>

**Until next time!**

**THE END**

**Oz**


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